Ikigai The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

Qigong

Also known as chi kung, its name combines qi (life force, or energy) and gong
(work), indicating that the form works with the individual’s life force. Though
relatively modern, especially under its current name, the art of qigong is
based on the Tao yin, an ancient art meant to foster mental and physical well-
being.

The practice began to appear in reports on training and martial arts at the
beginning of the twentieth century, and by the 1930s was being used in
hospitals. The Chinese government later popularized it, as it had done with tai
chi.

Qigong involves static and dynamic physical exercises that stimulate
respiration in a standing, seated, or reclined position. There are many
different styles of qigong, but all of them seek to strengthen and regenerate qi.
Though its movements are typically gentle, the practice is intense.

Benefits of qigong

According to numerous international scientific studies, qigong—like tai chi
and yoga—offers significant health benefits. The following stand out among
those proven through scientific research, as observed by Dr. Kenneth M.
Sancier of San Francisco’s Qigong Institute in his article “Medical
Applications of Qigong”3:

Modification of brain waves
Improved balance of sex hormones
Lower mortality rate from heart attacks
Lower blood pressure in patients with hypertension
Greater bone density
Better circulation
Deceleration of symptoms associated with senility
Greater balance and efficiency of bodily functions
Increased blood flow to the brain and greater mind-body connection
Improved cardiac function
Reduction in the secondary effects of cancer treatments

Practicing these arts not only keeps us in shape, it also helps extend our
lives.

Methods for practicing qigong

In order to practice qigong correctly, we should remember that our life energy
flows through our whole body. We should know how to regulate its many
parts:

1. Tyau Shenn: (regulating the body) by adopting the correct posture—it is
important to be firmly rooted to the ground

2. Tyau Shyi: (regulating the breath) until it is calm, steady, and peaceful
3. Tyau Hsin: (regulating the mind); the most complicated part, as it

implies emptying the mind of thoughts
4. Tyau Chi: (regulating the life force) through the regulation of the three

prior elements, so that it flows naturally

5. Tyau Shen: (regulating the spirit); the spirit is both strength and root in
battle, as Yang Jwing-Ming explains in The Essence of Taiji Qigong.4

In this way, the whole organism will be prepared to work together toward
a single goal.

The five elements of qigong

One of qigong’s best-known exercises is a series representing the five
elements: earth, water, wood, metal, and fire. This series of movements seeks
to balance the five currents of energy in order to improve brain and organ
function.

There are several ways to do these movements. In this case, we’re
following the model of Professor María Isabel García Monreal from the
Qigong Institute in Barcelona.

EARTH

1. Stand with your legs apart and your feet directly below your shoulders.
2. Turn your feet outward slightly to strengthen the posture.
3. Keep your shoulders relaxed and down and your arms loose at your sides,

slightly away from your body (this is the Wu Qi, or rooted, posture).
4. As you inhale, raise your arms in front of you until your hands are level

with your shoulders, your palms facing down.
5. Exhale as you bend your knees and bring your arms down until your

hands are level with your stomach, your palms facing in.
6. Hold this position for a few seconds, focusing on your breath.

WATER

1. Starting from Earth posture, bend your knees into a squat, keeping your
chest upright and exhaling throughout.

2. Press your coccyx downward to stretch your lumbar spine.
3. As you inhale, stand to return to Earth posture.
4. 4. Repeat twice, for a total of three.

WOOD

1. Starting from Earth posture, turn your palms upward and open your arms
to the side, forming a circle as you inhale, until your hands are level with
your clavicle. Turn your hands so that your palms and elbows point
downward, while keeping your shoulders relaxed.

2. Reverse the movement as you exhale, making a downward circle with
your arms until you reach your initial position.

3. Repeat twice, for a total of three.

METAL

1. Starting from Earth posture, raise your arms until your hands are level
with your sternum.

2. Turn your palms toward each other, about four inches apart, with your
fingers relaxed and slightly separated, pointing upward.

3. As you inhale, move your hands away from each other until they are
shoulder width apart.

4. As you exhale, bring your hands toward each other until they are back in
position 2.

5. Repeat twice, for a total of three, observing the concentration of energy
as you bring your hands together in front of your lungs.

FIRE

1. Starting from Earth posture, bring your hands level with your heart as
you inhale, with one hand slightly above the other and your palms facing
each other.

2. Rotate your hands to feel the energy of your heart.
3. Turn from your waist gently to the left, keeping your torso relaxed and

your forearms parallel to the ground.
4. With your palms still facing each other, separate your hands, bringing

one up until it is level with your shoulder, and the other down in front of
your abdomen.
5. Turn from your waist gently to the right, keeping your torso relaxed and
your forearms parallel to the ground.
6. As you exhale, let your hands come back together in front of your heart.
7. With your palms still facing each other, separate your hands, bringing
one up until it is level with your shoulder, and the other down in front of
your abdomen.

COMPLETING THE SERIES
1. Starting from Earth posture, inhale as you bring your hands level with
your shoulders, palms facing down.
2. As you exhale, lower your arms to rest at your sides, returning to the
initial Wu Qi posture.

Shiatsu

Created in Japan in the early twentieth century, principally for the treatment
of arthritis, shiatsu also works on energy flow through the application of
pressure with the thumbs and the palms of the hands. In combination with
stretching and breathing exercises, it seeks to create equilibrium among the
different elements of the body.

It is not important that a Tao Yin* have a name, is imitating something,
or is engraved in jade. What is important is the technique and the
essence of what is really practiced. Stretching and contracting, bending
and lifting of the head, stepping, lying down, resting or standing,
walking or stepping slowly, screaming or breathing—everything can be
a Tao Yin.

—Ge Hong5

Breathe better, live longer

The book Xiuzhen shishu, known in the West as Ten Books on the Cultivation
of Perfection, dates back to the thirteenth century and is a compendium of
materials from diverse sources on developing the mind and body.

It quotes, among others, the celebrated Chinese doctor and essayist Sun
Simiao, who lived during the sixth century. Sun Simiao was a proponent of a
technique called the Six Healing Sounds, which involves the coordination of
movement, breathing, and pronouncing sounds with the purpose of bringing
our souls to a place of calm.

The six sounds are:

Xu, pronounced like “shh” with a deep sigh, which is associated with the
liver

He, pronounced like “her” with a yawn, which is associated with the heart
Si, pronounced like “sir” with a slow exhale, which is associated with the

lungs
Chui, pronounced like “chwee” with a forceful exhale, which is associated

with the kidneys
Hoo, pronounced like “who,” which is associated with the spleen
Xi, pronounced like “she, ” which connects the whole body

The following poem by Sun Simiao offers clues about how to live well
according to the season. It reminds us of the importance of breathing, and
suggests that as we breathe, we visualize the organs associated with each of
the healing sounds.

In spring, breathe xu for clear eyes and so wood can aid your liver.
In summer, reach for he, so that heart and fire can be at peace.
In fall, breathe si to stabilize and gather metal, keeping the lungs moist.
For the kidneys, next, breathe chui and see your inner waters calm.
The Triple Heater needs your xi to expel all heat and troubles.
In all four seasons, take deep breaths so your spleen can process food.
And, of course, avoid exhaling noisily; don’t let even your own ears hear

you.
The practice is most excellent and will help preserve your divine elixir.

It might feel confusing to be presented with all the Eastern traditions we
have introduced in this chapter. The takeaway is that they all combine a
physical exercise with an awareness of our breath. These two components—
movement and breath—help us to bring our consciousness in line with our
body, instead of allowing our mind to be carried away by the sea of daily
worries. Most of the time, we are just not aware enough of our breathing.

IX

RESILIENCE AND WABI-SABI

How to face life’s challenges
without letting stress and worry
age you

What is resilience?

One thing that everyone with a clearly defined ikigai has in common is that
they pursue their passion no matter what. They never give up, even when the
cards seem stacked against them or they face one hurdle after another.

We’re talking about resilience, a concept that has become influential
among psychologists.

But resilience isn’t just the ability to persevere. As we’ll see in this
chapter, it is also an outlook we can cultivate to stay focused on the important
things in life rather than what is most urgent, and to keep ourselves from
being carried away by negative emotions.

In the final section of the chapter, we’ll explore techniques that go beyond
resilience to cultivate antifragility.

Sooner or later, we all have to face difficult moments, and the way we do
this can make a huge difference to our quality of life. Proper training for our
mind, body, and emotional resilience is essential for confronting life’s ups and
downs.

Nana korobi ya oki 七転び八起き

Fall seven times, rise eight.

—Japanese proverb

Resilience is our ability to deal with setbacks. The more resilient we are, the
easier it will be to pick ourselves up and get back to what gives meaning to
our lives.

Resilient people know how to stay focused on their objectives, on what
matters, without giving in to discouragement. Their flexibility is the source of
their strength: They know how to adapt to change and to reversals of fortune.
They concentrate on the things they can control and don’t worry about those
they can’t.

In the words of the famous Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr:

God, give us grace to accept with serenity

the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Emotional resilience through Buddhism and Stoicism

Siddhārtha Gautama (Buddha) was born a prince of Kapilavastu, Nepal, and
grew up in a palace, surrounded by riches. At sixteen he married and had a
child.

Not satisfied by his family’s wealth, at twenty-nine he decided to try a
different lifestyle and ran away from the palace to live as an ascetic. But it
wasn’t asceticism that he was looking for; it didn’t offer the happiness and
well-being he sought. Neither wealth nor extreme asceticism worked for him.
He realized that a wise person should not ignore life’s pleasures. A wise
person can live with these pleasures but should always remain conscious of
how easy it is to be enslaved by them.

Zeno of Citium began his studies with the Cynics. The Cynics also led
ascetic lives, leaving behind all earthly pleasures. They lived in the street, and
the only thing they owned was the clothing on their backs.

Seeing that Cynicism did not give him a sense of well-being, Zeno
abandoned its teachings to found the school of Stoicism, which centers on the
idea that there is nothing wrong with enjoying life’s pleasures as long as they
do not take control of your life as you enjoy them. You have to be prepared
for those pleasures to disappear.

The goal is not to eliminate all feelings and pleasures from our lives, as in
Cynicism, but to eliminate negative emotions.

Since their inception, one of the objectives of both Buddhism and
Stoicism has been to control pleasure, emotions, and desires. Though the
philosophies are very different, both aim to curb our ego and control our
negative emotions.

Both Stoicism and Buddhism are, at their roots, methods for practicing
well-being.

According to Stoicism, our pleasures and desires are not the problem. We
can enjoy them as long as they don’t take control of us. The Stoics viewed

those who were able to control their emotions as virtuous.

What’s the worst thing that could happen?

We finally land our dream job, but after a little while we are already hunting
for a better one. We win the lottery and buy a nice car but then decide we
can’t live without a sailboat. We finally win the heart of the man or woman
we’ve been pining for and suddenly find we have a wandering eye.

People can be insatiable.
The Stoics believed that these kinds of desires and ambitions are not worth
pursuing. The objective of the virtuous person is to reach a state of tranquility
(apatheia): the absence of negative feelings such as anxiety, fear, shame,
vanity, and anger, and the presence of positive feelings such as happiness,
love, serenity, and gratitude.
In order to keep their minds virtuous, the Stoics practiced something like
negative visualization: They imagined the worst thing that could happen in
order to be prepared if certain privileges and pleasures were taken from them.
To practice negative visualization, we have to reflect on negative events,
but without worrying about them.
Seneca, one of the richest men in ancient Rome, lived a life of luxury but
was, nonetheless, an active Stoic. He recommended practicing negative
visualization every night before falling asleep. In fact, he not only imagined
these negative situations, he actually put them into practice—for example, by
living for a week without servants, or the food and drink he was used to as a
wealthy man. As a result, he was able to answer the question “What’s the
worst thing that could happen?”

Meditating for healthier emotions

In addition to negative visualization and not giving in to negative emotions,
another central tenet of Stoicism is knowing what we can control and what we
can’t, as we see in the Serenity Prayer.

Worrying about things that are beyond our control accomplishes nothing.
We should have a clear sense of what we can change and what we can’t,

which in turn will allow us to resist giving in to negative emotions.
In the words of Epictetus, “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react

that matters.”1
In Zen Buddhism, meditation is a way to become aware of our desires and

emotions and thereby free ourselves from them. It is not simply a question of
keeping the mind free of thoughts but instead involves observing our thoughts
and emotions as they appear, without getting carried away by them. In this
way, we train our minds not to get swept up in anger, jealousy, or resentment.

One of the most commonly used mantras in Buddhism focuses on
controlling negative emotions: “Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ ,” in which oṃ is the
generosity that purifies the ego, ma is the ethics that purifies jealousy, ṇi is the
patience that purifies passion and desire, pad is the precision that purifies
bias, me is the surrender that purifies greed, and hūṃ is the wisdom that
purifies hatred.

The here and now, and the impermanence of things

Another key to cultivating resilience is knowing in which time to live. Both
Buddhism and Stoicism remind us that the present is all that exists, and it is
the only thing we can control. Instead of worrying about the past or the
future, we should appreciate things just as they are in the moment, in the
now.

“The only moment in which you can be truly alive is the present moment,”
observes the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh.

In addition to living in the here and now, the Stoics recommend reflecting
on the impermanence of the things around us.

The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius said that the things we love are like
the leaves of a tree: They can fall at any moment with a gust of wind. He also
said that changes in the world around us are not accidental but rather form
part of the essence of the universe—a rather Buddhist notion, in fact.

We should never forget that everything we have and all the people we love
will disappear at some point. This is something we should keep in mind, but
without giving in to pessimism. Being aware of the impermanence of things
does not have to make us sad; it should help us love the present moment and
those who surround us.

“All things human are short-lived and perishable,” Seneca tells us.2
The temporary, ephemeral, and impermanent nature of the world is
central to every Buddhist discipline. Keeping this always in mind helps us
avoid excessive pain in times of loss.

Wabi-sabi and ichi-go ichi-e

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese concept that shows us the beauty of the fleeting,
changeable, and imperfect nature of the world around us. Instead of searching
for beauty in perfection, we should look for it in things that are flawed,
incomplete.

This is why the Japanese place such value, for example, on an irregular or
cracked teacup. Only things that are imperfect, incomplete, and ephemeral
can truly be beautiful, because only those things resemble the natural world.

A complementary Japanese concept is that of ichi-go ichi-e, which could
be translated as “This moment exists only now and won’t come again.” It is
heard most often in social gatherings as a reminder that each encounter—
whether with friends, family, or strangers—is unique and will never be
repeated, meaning that we should enjoy the moment and not lose ourselves in
worries about the past or the future.

The concept is commonly used in tea ceremonies, Zen meditation, and
Japanese martial arts, all of which place emphasis on being present in the
moment.

In the West, we’ve grown accustomed to the permanence of the stone
buildings and cathedrals of Europe, which sometimes gives us the sense that
nothing changes, making us forget about the passage of time. Greco-Roman
architecture adores symmetry, sharp lines, imposing facades, and buildings
and statues of the gods that outlast the centuries.

Japanese architecture, on the other hand, doesn’t try to be imposing or
perfect, because it is built in the spirit of wabi-sabi. The tradition of making
structures out of wood presupposes their impermanence and the need for
future generations to rebuild them. Japanese culture accepts the fleeting
nature of the human being and everything we create.

The Grand Shrine of Ise,3 for example, has been rebuilt every twenty
years for centuries. The most important thing is not to keep the building

standing for generations, but to preserve customs and traditions—things that
can withstand the passage of time better than structures made by human
hands.

The key is to accept that there are certain things over which we have no
control, like the passage of time and the ephemeral nature of the world
around us.

Ichi-go ichi-e teaches us to focus on the present and enjoy each moment
that life brings us. This is why it is so important to find and pursue our ikigai.

Wabi-sabi teaches us to appreciate the beauty of imperfection as an
opportunity for growth.

Beyond resilience: Antifragility

As the legend goes, the first time Hercules faced the Hydra, he despaired
when he discovered that cutting off one of its heads meant that two would
grow back in its place. He would never be able to kill the beast if it got
stronger with every wound.

As Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains in Antifragile: Things That Gain from
Disorder,4 we use the word fragile to describe people, things, and
organizations that are weakened when harmed, and the words robust and
resilient for things that are able to withstand harm without weakening, but we
don’t have a word for things that get stronger when harmed (up to a point).

To refer to the kind of power possessed by the Hydra of Lerna, to talk
about things that get stronger when they are harmed, Taleb proposes the term
antifragile: “Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient
resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.”

Catastrophes and exceptional circumstances offer good models for
explaining antifragility. In 2011 a tsunami hit the Tōhoku region of Japan,
doing tremendous damage to dozens of cities and towns along the coast, most
famously Fukushima.

When we visited the affected coast two years after the catastrophe, having
driven for hours along cracked highways and past one empty gas station after
another, we passed through several ghost towns whose streets had been taken
over by the remnants of houses, piles of cars, and empty train stations. These

towns were fragile spaces that had been forgotten by the government and
could not recover on their own.

Other places, such as Ishinomaki and Kesennuma, suffered extensive
damage but were rebuilt within a few years, thanks to the efforts of many.
Ishinomaki and Kesennuma showed how resilient they were in their ability to
return to normal after the catastrophe.

The earthquake that caused the tsunami also affected the Fukushima
nuclear power plant. The Tokyo Electric Power Company engineers working
at the plant were not prepared to recover from that kind of damage. The
Fukushima nuclear facility is still in a state of emergency and will be for
decades to come. It demonstrated its fragility in the face of an unprecedented
catastrophe.

The Japanese financial markets closed minutes after the earthquake.
Which businesses did the best in the aftermath? Stock in big construction
companies has been steadily on the rise since 2011; the need to rebuild the
entire coast of Tōhoku is a boon for construction. In this case, Japanese
construction companies are antifragile, since they benefited enormously from
the catastrophe.

Now let’s take a look at how we can apply this concept to our daily lives.
How can we be more antifragile?

Step 1: Create redundancies

Instead of having a single salary, try to find a way to make money from your
hobbies, at other jobs, or by starting your own business. If you have only one
salary, you might be left with nothing should your employer run into trouble,
leaving you in a position of fragility. On the other hand, if you have several
options and you lose your primary job, it might just happen that you end up
dedicating more time to your secondary job, and maybe even make more
money at it. You would have beaten that stroke of bad luck and would be, in
that case, antifragile.

One hundred percent of the seniors we interviewed in Ogimi had a
primary and a secondary occupation. Most of them kept a vegetable garden as
a secondary job, and sold their produce at the local market.

The same idea goes for friendships and personal interests. It’s just a
matter, as the saying goes, of not putting all your eggs in one basket.

In the sphere of romantic relationships, there are those who focus all their
energy on their partner and make him or her their whole world. Those people
lose everything if the relationship doesn’t work out, whereas if they’ve
cultivated strong friendships and a full life along the way, they’ll be in a better
position to move on at the end of a relationship. They’ll be antifragile.

Right now you might be thinking, “I don’t need more than one salary, and
I’m happy with the friends I’ve always had. Why should I add anything new?”
It might seem like a waste of time to add variation to our lives, because
extraordinary things don’t ordinarily happen. We slip into a comfort zone. But
the unexpected always happens, sooner or later.

Step 2: Bet conservatively in certain areas and take
many small risks in others

The world of finance turns out to be very useful in explaining this concept. If
you have $10,000 saved up, you might put $9,000 of that into an index fund
or fixed-term deposit, and invest the remaining $1,000 in ten start-ups with
huge growth potential—say, $100 in each.

One possible scenario is that three of the companies fail (you lose $300),
the value of three other companies goes down (you lose another $100 or
$200), the value of three goes up (you make $100 or $200), and the value of
one of the start-ups increases twenty-fold (you make nearly $2,000, or maybe
even more).

You still make money, even if three of the businesses go completely belly-
up. You’ve benefited from the damage, just like the Hydra.

The key to becoming antifragile is taking on small risks that might lead to
great reward, without exposing ourselves to dangers that might sink us, such
as investing $10,000 in a fund of questionable reputation that we saw
advertised in the newspaper.

Step 3: Get rid of the things that make you fragile

We’re taking the negative route for this exercise. Ask yourself: What makes
me fragile? Certain people, things, and habits generate losses for us and make
us vulnerable. Who and what are they?

When we make our New Year’s resolutions, we tend to emphasize adding
new challenges to our lives. It’s great to have this kind of objective, but setting
“good riddance” goals can have an even bigger impact. For example:

Stop snacking between meals
Eat sweets only once a week
Gradually pay off all debt
Avoid spending time with toxic people
Avoid spending time doing things we don’t enjoy, simply because we
feel obligated to do them
Spend no more than twenty minutes on Facebook per day

To build resilience into our lives, we shouldn’t fear adversity, because each
setback is an opportunity for growth. If we adopt an antifragile attitude, we’ll
find a way to get stronger with every blow, refining our lifestyle and staying
focused on our ikigai.

Taking a hit or two can be viewed as either a misfortune or an experience
that we can apply to all areas of our lives, as we continually make corrections
and set new and better goals. As Taleb writes in Antifragile, “We need
randomness, mess, adventures, uncertainty, self-discovery, hear traumatic
episodes, all these things that make life worth living.” We encourage those
interested in the concept of antifragility to read Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s
Antifragile.

Life is pure imperfection, as the philosophy of wabi-sabi teaches us, and
the passage of time shows us that everything is fleeting, but if you have a
clear sense of your ikigai, each moment will hold so many possibilities that it
will seem almost like an eternity.

EPILOGUE

Ikigai: The art of living

Mitsuo Aida was one of the most important calligraphers and haikuists of the
twentieth century. He is yet another example of a Japanese person who
dedicated his life to a very specific ikigai: communicating emotions with
seventeen-syllable poems, using a shodo calligraphy brush.

Many of Aida’s haikus philosophize about the importance of the present
moment, and the passage of time. The poem reproduced below could be
translated as “In the here and now, the only thing in my life is your life.”

いのまいこのこちにあしなかたなのいいわのたちし

In another poem, Aida writes simply, “Here, now.” It is an artwork that
seeks to evoke feelings of mono no aware (a melancholy appreciation of the
ephemeral).

いまここ

The following poem touches on one of the secrets of bringing ikigai into
our lives: “Happiness is always determined by your heart.”

しあわせはいつも自分の心がきめる

This last one, also by Aida, means “Keep going; don’t change your path.”

そのままでいいがな

Once you discover your ikigai, pursuing it and nurturing it every day will
bring meaning to your life. The moment your life has this purpose, you will
achieve a happy state of flow in all you do, like the calligrapher at his canvas
or the chef who, after half a century, still prepares sushi for his patrons with
love.

Conclusion

Our ikigai is different for all of us, but one thing we have in common is that
we are all searching for meaning. When we spend our days feeling connected
to what is meaningful to us, we live more fully; when we lose the connection,
we feel despair.

Modern life estranges us more and more from our true nature, making it
very easy for us to lead lives lacking in meaning. Powerful forces and
incentives (money, power, attention, success) distract us on a daily basis; don’t
let them take over your life.

Our intuition and curiosity are very powerful internal compasses to help us
connect with our ikigai. Follow those things you enjoy, and get away from or
change those you dislike. Be led by your curiosity, and keep busy by doing
things that fill you with meaning and happiness. It doesn’t need to be a big
thing: we might find meaning in being good parents or in helping our
neighbors.

There is no perfect strategy to connecting with our ikigai. But what we
learned from the Okinawans is that we should not worry too much about
finding it.

Life is not a problem to be solved. Just remember to have something that
keeps you busy doing what you love while being surrounded by the people
who love you.

The ten rules of ikigai

We’ll conclude this journey with ten rules we’ve distilled from the wisdom of
the long-living residents of Ogimi:

1. Stay active; don’t retire. Those who give up the things they love doing
and do well lose their purpose in life. That’s why it’s so important to keep
doing things of value, making progress, bringing beauty or utility to others,
helping out, and shaping the world around you, even after your “official”
professional activity has ended.

2. Take it slow. Being in a hurry is inversely proportional to quality of
life. As the old saying goes, “Walk slowly and you’ll go far.” When we leave
urgency behind, life and time take on new meaning.

3. Don’t fill your stomach. Less is more when it comes to eating for long
life, too. According to the 80 percent rule, in order to stay healthier longer,
we should eat a little less than our hunger demands instead of stuffing
ourselves.

4. Surround yourself with good friends. Friends are the best medicine,
there for confiding worries over a good chat, sharing stories that brighten your
day, getting advice, having fun, dreaming . . . in other words, living.

5. Get in shape for your next birthday. Water moves; it is at its best
when it flows fresh and doesn’t stagnate. The body you move through life in
needs a bit of daily maintenance to keep it running for a long time. Plus,
exercise releases hormones that make us feel happy.

6. Smile. A cheerful attitude is not only relaxing—it also helps make
friends. It’s good to recognize the things that aren’t so great, but we should
never forget what a privilege it is to be in the here and now in a world so full
of possibilities.

7. Reconnect with nature. Though most people live in cities these days,
human beings are made to be part of the natural world. We should return to it
often to recharge our batteries.

8. Give thanks. To your ancestors, to nature, which provides you with the
air you breathe and the food you eat, to your friends and family, to everything
that brightens your days and makes you feel lucky to be alive. Spend a
moment every day giving thanks, and you’ll watch your stockpile of happiness
grow.

9. Live in the moment. Stop regretting the past and fearing the future.
Today is all you have. Make the most of it. Make it worth remembering.

10. Follow your ikigai. There is a passion inside you, a unique talent that
gives meaning to your days and drives you to share the best of yourself until
the very end. If you don’t know what your ikigai is yet, as Viktor Frankl says,
your mission is to discover it.

The authors of this book wish you a long, happy, and purposeful life.

Thank you for joining us,

HÉCTOR GARCÍA AND FRANCESC MIRALLES

NOTES

Chapter I. Ikigai

1     Dan Buettner. The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived
the Longest. People in all Blue Zones (except Adventists) drink alcohol moderately and
regularly. Moderate drinkers outlive nondrinkers. The trick is to drink 1–2 glasses per
day (preferably Sardinian Cannonau wine), with friends and/or with food. And no, you
can’t save up all week and have 14 drinks on Saturday. Retrieved via
https://www.bluezones.com/2016/11/power-9/#sthash.4LTc0NED.dpuf.

Chapter II. Antiaging Secrets

1     Eduard Punset. Interview with Shlomo Breznitz for Redes, RTVE (Radio Televisión
Española). Retrieved via http://www.rtve.es/television/20101024/pon-forma-tu-
cerebro/364676.shtml.

2     Howard S. Friedman and Leslie R. Martin. The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries
for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study. Retrieved via
http://www.penguin randomhouse.com/books/307681/the-longevity-project-by-howard-
s-friedman/9780452297708/.

Chapter III. From Logotherapy to Ikigai

1     Viktor E. Frankl, Richard Winston (translator), Clara Winston. The Doctor and the Soul:
From Psychotherapy to Logotherapy. Vintage, 1986.

2     Viktor E. Frankl. Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning. Basic Books, 2000.
3     Ibid.
4     Viktor E. Frankl. The Will to Meaning: Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy.

Meridian/Plume, 1988.
5     Shoma Morita. Morita Therapy and the True Nature of Anxiety-Based Disorders. State

University of New York Press, 1998.
6     Thich Nhat Hanh. The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of

Meditation. Beacon Press, 1996.
7     Morita. Morita Therapy.

Chapter IV. Find Flow in Everything You Do

1     “Crafting Fun User Experiences: A Method to Facilitate Flow—A Conversation with
Owen Schaffer.” Retrieved via human factors.com/whitepapers/crafting_fun_ux.asp.

2     Ernest Hemingway. On Writing. Scribner, 1984.
3     Bertrand Russell. Unpopular Essays. Routledge, 2009.
4     The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, vol. 1. Princeton University Press, 1987.
5     Eyal Ophir, Clifford Nass, and Anthony D. Wagner, “Cognitive Control in Media

Multitaskers.” Retrieved via www.pnas.org/content/106/37/15583.full.
6     Sara Thomée, Annika Härenstam, and Mats Hagberg, “Mobile Phone Use and Stress,

Sleep Disturbances, and Symptoms of Depression Among Young Adults—A
Prospective Cohort Study.” Retrieved via
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3042390/.
7     Nobuyuki Hayashi. Idainaru Kurieteabu Derekuta No Kiseki. [Steve Jobs: The Greatest
Creative Director] ASCII Media Works, 2007. It has not been translated into English.
8     Richard P. Feynman. “What Do You Care What Other People Think?”: Further
Adventures of a Curious Character. W. W. Norton, 2001.

Chapter V. Masters of Longevity

1     Emma Innes, “The secret to a long life? Sushi and sleep, according to the world’s oldest
woman,” Daily Mail. Retrieved via http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-
2572316/The-secret-long-life-Sushi-sleep-according-worlds-oldest-woman.html.

2     “Muere a los 116 la mujer mas longeva según el Libro Guinness de los Récords,” El
País. Retrieved via
http://elpais.com/elpais/2006/08/28/actualidad/1156747730_850215.html.

3     Supercentenarians. Editors: H. Maier, J. Gampe, B. Jeune, J. W. Vaupel, J.-M. Robine.
Springer-Verlag, 2010.

4     David Batty, “World’s oldest man dies at 114,” The Guardian. Retrieved via
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/15/world-oldest-man-dies-at-114.

5     Ralph Blumenthal, “World’s Oldest Man, Though Only Briefly, Dies at 111 in New
York,” New York Times. Retrieved via
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/09/nyregion/worlds-oldest-man-though-only-briefly-
dies-at-111-in-new-york.html?.

6     Henry D. Smith. Hokusai: One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji. George Braziller, Inc., 1988.
7     “Old Masters at the Top of Their Game,” New York Times Magazine. Retrieved via

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/23/magazine/old-masters-at-top-of-their-
game.html?_r=0.
8     Ibid.
9     Toshio Ban. The Osamu Tezuka Story: A Life in Manga and Anime. Stone Bridge Press,
2016.
10     Rosamund C. Barnett and Caryl Rivers. The Age of Longevity: Re-Imagining Tomorrow
for Our New Long Lives. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2016.
11     “Old Masters at the Top of Their Game,” New York Times Magazine.
12     Ibid.

13     Ibid.
14     Ibid.
15     Ibid.

Chapter VI. Lessons from Japan’s Centenarians

1     Strictly speaking, Shinto means “the way of the kami.” In Japanese, kami refers to spirits
or phenomena that coexist with us in nature.

2     Washington Burnap. The Sphere and Duties of Woman: A Course of Lectures (1848).
Retrieved via https://archive-org/details/spheredutiesofwo00burn.

Chapter VII. The Ikigai Diet

1     Bradley J. Willcox, D. Craig Willcox, and Makoto Suzuki. The Okinawa Program: How
the World’s Longest-Lived People Achieve Everlasting Health—and How You Can Too.
Retrieved via http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/190921/the-okinawa-
program-by-bradley-j-willcox-md-d-craig-willcox-phd-makoto-suzuki-md-foreword-by-
andrew-weil-md/.

2     Luigi Fontana, Edward P. Weiss, Dennis T. Villareal, Samuel Klein, and John O.
Holloszy. “Long-term Effects of Calorie or Protein Restriction on Serum IGF-1 and
IGFBP-3 Concentration in Humans.” Retrieved via
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2673798/.

3     Edda Cava and Luigi Fontana. “Will Calorie Restriction Work in Humans?” Retrieved
via https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3765579/.

4     W. E. Bronner and G. R. Beecher. “Method for Determining the Content of Catechins in
Tea Infusions by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography.” Retrieved via
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9618918.

Chapter VIII. Gentle Movements, Longer Life

1     “Sitting Is the New Smoking,” Start Standing. Retrieved via
http://www.startstanding.org/sitting-new-smoking/.

2     Brigid Schulte, “Health Experts Have Figured Out How Much Time You Should Sit
Each Day,” Washington Post. Retrieved via
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/02/medical-researchers-have-
figured-out-how-much-time-is-okay-to-spend-sitting-each-day/?
utm_term=.d9d8df01a807.

3     Kenneth M. Sancier, PhD, “Medical Applications of Qigong,” Alternative Therapies,
January 1996(vol. 2, no. 1). Retrieved via
http://www.ichikung.com/pdf/MedicalApplicationsQi gong.pdf.

4     Yang Jwing-Ming. The Essence of Taiji Qigong. YMAA Publication Center, 1998.
5     Ge Hong (AD 284–364). Retrieved via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge_Hong.

Chapter IX. Resilience and Wabi-sabi

1     Epictetus. Discourses and Selected Writings. Penguin, 2008.
2     Seneca. Letters from a Stoic. Penguin, 2015.
3     “Ise Shrine,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved via

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ise-Shrine.
4     Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder. Random House,

2014.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

The authors of Ikigai were greatly inspired by:
Breznitz, Shlomo, and Collins Hemingway. Maximum Brainpower:

Challenging the Brain for Health and Wisdom. Ballantine Books, 2012.
Buettner, Dan. The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People

Who’ve Lived the Longest. Retrieved via
http://www.bluezones.com/2016/11/power-9/#sthash.4LTc0NED.dpuf.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.
Harper Perennial, 1990.
Frankl, Viktor E. The Doctor and the Soul: From Psychotherapy to
Logotherapy. Vintage, 1986.
———. Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning. Basic Books, 2000.
———. The Will to Meaning: Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy.
Meridian/Plume, 1988.
Friedman, Howard S., and Leslie R. Martin. The Longevity Project: Surprising
Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade
Study. Plume, 2012.
Morita, Shoma. Morita Therapy and the True Nature of Anxiety-Based
Disorders. State University of New York Press, 1998.
Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. Incerto series: Fooled by Randomness, The Black
Swan, The Bed of Procrustes, Antifragile. Random House, 2012.
Willcox, Bradley J., D. Craig Willcox, and Makoto Suzuki. The Okinawa
Diet Plan: Get Leaner, Live Longer, and Never Feel Hungry. Clarkson
Potter, 2001.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Héctor García is a citizen of Japan, where he has lived for over a decade,
and of Spain, where he was born. A former software engineer, he worked at
CERN in Switzerland before moving to Japan, where he developed voice
recognition software and the technology needed for Silicon Valley start-ups to
enter the Japanese market. He is the creator of the popular blog kirainet.com
and the author of A Geek in Japan, a #1 bestseller in Japan.
Francesc Miralles is an award-winning author who has written a number of
bestselling self-help and inspirational books. Born in Barcelona, he studied
journalism, English literature, and German, and has worked as an editor, a
translator, a ghostwriter, and a musician. His novel Love in Lowercase has
been translated into twenty languages.

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* English translation by Steven Tolliver.

* Tao Yin: general term referring to the ancient arts meant to foster mental and physical well-being.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/authors/search/?query=Ge,+Hong.